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Credit: The Associated Press

New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski, center, is congratulated after his game-winning fieldgoal against the Denver Broncos in overtime of an NFL football game early Monday, Nov. 25, 2013, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots won 34-3. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

If there was any second-guessing over the decision to give Stephen Gostkowski a shot from 55 yards in the second quarter, the kicker pretty much validated Bill Belichick's beliefs in the fourth.

Gostkowski boomed a pair of 53-yard field goals in the final eight minutes to turn a 31-28 deficit into a 34-31 victory. He had plenty of leg, which was also the case when he pushed the longer attempt earlier in the game. The miss gave the Texans a short field and aided a touchdown drive. It also ended his career-long streak of 21 consecutive makes.

Either way, Gostkowski came through at the end.

"It's just crazy how games can play out," Gostkowski said. "It's nice to get long kicks in good weather. It's tough to make kicks at that distance in December in Foxboro, so we would expect to be called out there for a couple of 53-, 55-yard field goals. So, just to do it in the fourth quarter when the team may be a little tired makes it feel a little bit special after the fact. But during the fact, I'm just trying to to go out there and make a field goal. Thats what I tried to do on the first one. I missed it a little bit, regrouped myself and told myself that I've hit more kicks than I've missed in this league. Then with the next one, if you take one kick at a time, then youre going to go out there and nail it."

Another interesting tidbit: Gostkowski said he never kicks anything longer than 53 yards in pregame warmups because it unnecessarily fatigues the leg. He can tell by the distance through the uprights how long he's got during the game, so he knew he had enough from 55 when called upon in the second quarter.